The Trojans, who swept No. 1-ranked and defending NCAA champion UC Irvine on the road in their previous match, improved to 2-1 overall and in the MPSF. Stanford suffered its first loss of 2013, falling to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the MPSF.

For Stanford, Brian Cook had a match-best 16 kills, Eric Mochalski had 7 kills while hitting .545 and Steven Irvin had 7 kills. Mochalski (Steven) and Irvin (Kelly, Christine) have siblings who have played or play volleyball at USC.

The first set was tight throughout before a triple block by Christenson, Ben Lam and Alex Slaught followed by a Stanford hitting error ended it in overtime. USC opened up a 13-9 lead in the second set and steadily pulled away while hitting .625. The Trojans climbed back from an 8-3 deficit in the third set to tie it at 14-14 and then the set remained close before consecutive kills by Jansen finished it.

USC next hosts No. 15 Pacific in an MPSF match on Sunday (Jan. 20) at 3 p.m. in the Galen Center (note the time change from the previously-announced 5 p.m.).